With The Wifely Unit being sick, the oldest boy being off his feed and me feeling light headed, beat tired and weird also, we didn’t get to make our weekly trek to Wally World yesterday.
The one she insists on shopping at five miles away when there is one literally one mile from here.
“Because they don’t have what I want”.
Yeah, sure. Whatever.
Sick folk or not, there’s certain things we were running low on.
BECAUSE SHE ONLY SHOPS FOR ONE FUCKING WEEK AT A TIME!
That means You Know Who had to step up to the plate and go get that shit.
Amazingly enough, I managed to find the exact same shit at the one closer that she swears up and down they never have.
Mhh Hmm.
While I was in there wandering up and down the aisles I ran into something that surprised me but only a little bit.
Something very out of the ordinary that I am sure most of the Sheeple walked right by without even a second glance.
I know that while I was taking this picture, some lady excused herself because she thought she had walked into it as I was snapping it and didn’t notice why I was taking this particular picture until I explained why to her. THEN, the lightbulb came on.
See if this isn’t one of those things that make you go HMMM.
Nothing unusual for Wal Mart right?
Just a bunch of camping and Sporting goods stuff, right?
Except it’s smack dab right in the middle of one of the Grocery aisles where they normally carry their Candy.
The Camping and Sporting Goods section is clear across the other side of the building, about 75 YARDS away.
The Wifely Unit also had a conniption fit when I told her what it cost.
She was convinced that true to form, I had bought a bunch of extra shit.
Of course I did, I was the one shopping this time and I got a couple of things I wanted.
But not near enough to explain the total price. So she DEMANDED to see the receipt of course so she could go over it line item and rake me over the coals.
When she started pointing things out I explained them calmly and she would just shake her head and move on.
It’s when she got to the Cat Food that she finally exploded.
I got the exact same brand and amount that she has been buying every week.
She swore up and down she had only been paying Ten Dollars for it.
That’s some fine selective memory you got there honey because I have been paying attention to that shit and you have been paying TWENTY, just like this batch.
Try as she might, she couldn’t really pin anything on me other that I bought some REAL Tillamook Sharp Cheddar Cheese instead of the cheap Wally World brand.
Like I said, I was the one doing the shopping and I got what I WANTED.
Fuck that cheap plastic tasting Cheese shit.
So I think, maybe, juuuuust mayyyvbe, this whole INFLATION MAKES THINGS COST MORE concept I have been hammering on her for months with, finally got a sliver of recognition.
Hard to say because as sick as she is it probably went in one ear and right the fuck out the other, just like most things I try to tell her.
Eventually she will figure it out on her own.
It’s just a matter of the grocery bill shooting through the roof some random week and she finally gets the clue.
I know I have been watching it go up every week for the last 8 months.
Same Same with the Supply issue.
Even as hard as Wally World is trying to hide it,
It’s all about the training. Forty years of marriage and I still can’t convince the missus to read the ingredient labels on foods. She watches the prices well enough and can advise me if I’m about to waste a dime (she learned). But damn sweetie, can’t you just not buy stuff that has benzophenopsychohydroconglomerate in it? I refuse to eat that nonsense, she understands, promises to read more; hang on for the next episode one week from now. Fortunately we buy mostly fresh veggies and meats. But come on, a bottle of catsup doesn’t need a chem lab in it.
The other side of the quirk is that it took me most of those years to convince her to quit buying $20-30 dollar sneakers. I always spend a bit more on shoes or boots as I’m a believer in taking the best care of my feet that I can -> lesson from my dad and it’s time proven. I bought her a pair of ‘good’ sneakers a couple of years ago and not only did she remark “I don’t even know I have them on” but finally the light bulb came on and she looks at value as a different concept than cheap now.
was dear old dad a ex grunt ? footwear gets to be a very important
item for grunts/ground pounders
I know, ex grunt myself. 1/503 PIR 173ABN- 101st ABN.
good foot wear is VERY IMPORTANT.
He was 29th Div Army, WWII. I just passed along some of his gear and confiscation to my son a couple of months ago. I did a short stint at USNA. Didn’t fit me well. Resigned and moved on. I was self-disciplined enough, just not able to adjust to other-disciplined by knuckle-heads.
Bingo Robert! I was in JR ROTC in high school (3years) and had the same problem, I disciplined them all right, but not by ROTC regs… being forthcoming I was a low man on the totem pole, but the asskissers and incompetents (think Neidermeyer in Animal House) were already showing their lack of honor and they wanted to be ossifers. Frag material if I ever saw. I went on to the Army and it helped me as far as atta-boys and promotions having some ROTC training though I was enlisted.
You can’t train wives. But you can make progress AROUND them. Been married 38 years. 10 years ago I once again learned the lesson, “If you want it done right, do it yourself.”, and that includes everything food in our house. My wife is much like Phil’s, short attention span when it comes to food.
So for the past 10 years our pantries have been stocked and I prepare our only “meal”, supper, everyday. We snack now and then during the day but only one full fledged meal.
She doesn’t enjoy anything food cept eating it and I like everything food, buying, preparing, eating.
Full disclosure, I work for Wally. I worked 8 years in (retail) operations, and moved up the food chain.
Basically I work for the Corporate side for the last 2.5 years in field projects with a team and we go from store to store doing remodels and updating things as the ones at a higher pay grade than me (beancounters) decide thats the thing we need, So I build that thing. Sometimes it works, sometimes it dont. PNW area is my stomping ground.
The operations side of the job is why this is common. We have a hard time finding competent employees, even offered a good pay, to at least work that worth.
Anyway, select areas of a store are always transitional/seasonal/in flux, in the case of a remodel for instance.
Big NoNo is bare shelves – valley is bare since its transitioning and the product has not arrived yet. Most stores and apparently yours, decided on the correct option of temporarily tossing out the product they had a shitload of, that needs to go away now. If they cant see it, they dont buy it. Still camping season, but the winter season stuff is starting to fill the backroom, and the hints of the spring merch are already in the wings.
Supply chain for WM Is not too bad, yet, but the rumblings and asinine decisions of politicians currently will insure that it gets bad.
Keep your powder dry.
Thanks for the input.
I’ve already heard the big candy companies warning they may not have what they need for Halloween production.
That aisle is probably going to be a clearance item area from here out.
The supply for what they get and got for hallows eve has already arrived last month. So how and where they fill it is fluid.
the pain of retail is staying ahead.
I figured the store manager was trying to move more merchandise by making it more convenient for buyer. i noticed our camping / coolers aisles had some shelves of ketchup / mustard / napkins / plastic flat ware together so that buyer would pick up condiments too.
Candy shortage – now THAT is when some people’s radars are going to flash. Thanks for tip.
Family Dollar has had Halloween candy for 2 weeks.
Yes, thank you for that. Coyote.
The price of a headlight made me tired.
supplement:
https://youtu.be/v0DpBnUznd0?t=160
I haven’t been in a wally world in at least 10 years, and that was to pick up a tv (that I still have) because lightning blew up the one I had. Online ordered it, I didn’t want to wait 3 days for shipping. I do most of the grocery shopping because my wife is not very good at it. I have to print a list, and even then she will fuck it up
yup. sometimes it only takes one time to see the difference in stuff.
cheap is one thing, something that is going to last a while is something else.
as the food bill has gone up every time for the last year or more.
store brand bacon (the goo
d stuff !) was 7 bucks per 2 lbs. now it sells at 14 bucks
on sale. Weis smoked bacon is a lot better than most of the other brands.
anyway, we go shopping like 2 times a month. bill is never less than 300 bucks
used to be 2 full carts, now ? maybe 1/2 to 3/4 full. we have like 10 feral cats around here- mice patrol . they go thru 3,20 pound bags a month, used to be 16 bucks a bag, now. closer to 20 on sale. about the cats, started with 3 of them, 4 years ago. started to feed them to keep the critters away. they started making kittens ! got a safe trap, got some vouchers to get them cut and did like 14 of them. lost a few to whatever, BUT. we have no mice, rats or squirrels or birds or anything else around the house. my neighbors can not say the same thing.
one goes thru mouse traps like crazy and his wife is always on his ass about them.
I don’t have that problem ! if you live in the country, you going to have to deal with critters of all sizes.
there are a lot of people around here cutting and selling firewood. a lot more than last year, that is for sure. heating oil is still over 5 bucks per and a lot of homes heat with it. and get one or two refills a winter.
wood stoves are a hot selling item too around here, if you can find one !
pellet stoves are selling as well, but you need electric power to run one, and you need to buy pellets too. wood is all around us here. just from wind damage you can get a nice size pile of wood every time we have a storm.
but really, anyone who does not have a stockpile of canned goods and food at home now is just asking for trouble this winter and next spring.
I just wished I had a bigger freezer myself.
and I just know the clowns in the cities have maybe a weeks worth of food at best at home. canned chicken used to be 2 bucks a can, now it cost 3 or more
hell, they even putting those anti theft boxes on spam in the cities now.
this is not going to end well for a whole lot of folks.
even people who live up here in the hills, some of them don’t keep a stash of food on hand. well. maybe 2 weeks worth. some just a weekend worth as there are a lot of weekend people around here. golf carts, ATVs and boats. that is what a lot of the folks around here have. from what I have seen so far, most bring enough food for the weekend or they get take out.
but in off season or winter, it is very quiet around here. I like that part.
the kids racing on their ATVs I can live without, but I remember being young myself and let it slide.
anyway, now that we getting close to winter again, I be spending a bit more to stock up the larder a bit more or deeper.
see you all on the other side, I hope we all get thru this coming shit show.
stay armed, keep you head on a swivel. stay sharp as we used to say, now a days I think it stay frosty . these fuckers have no idea how bad this will get.
I bet most think it will not effect them, well. are you special as we used to say too.
Dog food at the local grocer has increased from 25 a bag on sale to 39 a bag on sale in the last two months, you can accurately figure the regular price.
Groceries? hah, guess up, as Phil just described. Nope, won’t post a number, everyone can figure that also.
I’m still buying Tillamook cheese too. But the price is starting to bother me. Kroger store brand ain’t near as good. Never tried the Wally house stuff, but then I rarely set foot inside that place.
My “red” condiment of choice these days is barbecue sauce, so I have no idea what’s on the ingredient label of my ketchup. It’s probably printed so small I can’t read it anyway.
I feel your pain, it’s like beating a dead horse. But, luckily I got household 6 to finally start canning. Sadly this has been a shit year for the garden. As it is there is plenty of pickles, jalapeño peppers, and salsa. Peas made a couple of pots full and green beans was all vines. May have a few taters, and just planted turnips and colarabs. Luckily on the farm I have seen plenty rabbits, squirrels and the deer are thick. In Ky you only get one buck but doe are unlimited, so there will be a freezer full of venison. I feel sorry for the folks who gotta depend on stores because if they try to starve you out, you’re pretty much fucked.
Prices at our local grocery store have almost DOUBLED since The Steal was allowed to happen by the worthless chucks in D.C. Several of the things that are made by my preferred brands have priced themselves right out of my Zone of Willingness. I don’t blame them, because we KNOW who is to blame, but I’m not going to get raped, thank them and ask them for more.
I used to be able to buy all the groceries with one income, now not so much.
As to Walmart, I go there once a month for their very good prices on canned goods and basic staples. I do like their cheeses, not wanting to pay overly too much for cheeses, and theirs is average supermarket stuff.
Though I buy most of my meats and over-the-counter drugs and butter and bottled water at Sam’s Club, as the money I save on the OTC drugs far surpasses the money I spend on the yearly membership fee. Not to mention 50lbs of rice for around $22.
Again, I’ll go into them once a month. Weekly visits to the local regional grocery chain for perishables like veggies and milk and such.
Prices are definitely up. 4lbs of Butter at Sams two years ago was about $8-9 per, now it’s $15.
Milk at the grocery store went from $3.95 a gallon to a high of $5.25 a gallon. I don’t like Walmart’s milk. Publix, the regional chain, has dedicated dairies and their milk is very good.
Prices are up. Way up. And only going higher.
local made milk always seem to taste better. we have good dairy near here, well. close to 35 miles away. good stuff from them too.
last couple of shopping trips I started buying powdered milk to store
in the basement just in case. our local store had great tasting cheese but not much of it on the shelfs the last 2-3 months.
no 2 pound blocks at all anymore. same with crackers, used to be under a buck on sale, I always grabbed a few of them. just not there
the last couple of months now.
milk was 4.59 a gallon, now they asking 5.19 or so, depends on where you buy it. prices are going up faster as winter gets closer
the way it looks or maybe the stockpile is getting lower ?
“Where’s my milk from?” You can look up plant codes where it was made, there could be cross branding that the product didn’t meet the top Tillimook grade but is still good value for lesser price. 41-something should be “made in oregon”. Quarts of Tillimook yogurt are actually made by Safeway Clackamas 41-18.
Store brands may come from a Good branded bottler. $2.79 per gallon, limit 2, filled by the same branded company selling their brand one rack over for $3.99. They are not switching the mix just because they are filling their own jugs & then someone else’s.
I find good value at US Foods cash & carry 2 gallons in a box. At least at the local one, they go through pallets every day so it is Fresh.
I shop at wally world to get packaged goods. Their prices are better than anywhere else. That said, there’s a Wally World literally one block away from me, and I’ll drive right past it to go to the other one two miles north.
The one near me is Ghetto Wally World. I go there only if I’m in a hurry, but try to avoid it after work or on weekends. It’s the mothership for walmartians. The one north is wypipo WalMart. It’s bigger, cleaner, better stocked, nicer workers and clientele that don’t get in your way. It also has to compete with Central Market close by.
Your wife has a point. Walmart, Kroger, Tom Thumb all tailor their stock for the local customer base. So Ghetto Wally world will have plenty of wings and gizzards, but only maybe two whole chickens where wypipo WallMart will have the opposite. The fact that you found some of the stuff you needed was probably luck or timing.
I do go to SAMs for staples like meat. They have great prices on dog food, and you can buy a 50 lb bag that’s not available anywhere else that I can see. Unfortunalty the big dog has a poultry allergy so we can’t buy it any longer.
I started a pantry system right before COVID started that the wife doesn’t understand any better than yours. I do the shopping because I work at home and I use a list. Herself does not. She went shopping yesterday and came back with stuff we already have and stuff we don’t need – like those veggie chips, which are really colorized reshaped pringles. She bought a cauliflower and started to open it, when I told her we needed to use the one in the back fridge first. It’s a really easy system that cushions you for scarcity, and locks you into stuff when the prices are better. I don’t know why the women in my family can’t grok that.
BTW, I’m with you on quality. I buy Tillamook because I can taste it. Thanks to cancer therapy my taste buds are mostly destroyed. So if it isn’t quality I taste one of two things – A bare hint of what it’s supposed to be, whick forces me to notice the texture (Cheap ground beef tastes like kitty litter), or I taste what’s in it that shouldn’t be. Like canola oil. Or vegetable oil in chocolate where butterfat should be.
Herself also buys a lot of that dumb “natural” crap. She rocked back here with two dozen ‘organic’ eggs. They taste better, but they are smaller and double the price. She’ll grab a $4 bottle of cleaner because it says “Natural” passing over the $1.98 bottle of simple green or 409 that’ll clean better.
I just did my monthly run for food. *sticker shock* The dog food is 45 dollars more a bag. My normal $350 for me and the mutts was $500. My fixed income is getting slapped hard.
I married a wife that can make a dollar bill cry “Uncle!”. She knows how to buy bulk, cans produce from the garden, and we are firing up out rather large dehydrator now.
I have to get my 3500 watt gas-powered generator running, but only for the period when snow/wind knocks out the grid – power up here in the PNW is extremely reliable. The Genset is seized but PB Blaster should fix that! I can fall back to my 6500 watt genset in the Beaver if necessary… I need to design/build an Automatic Switching Unit to grab the load after automagically starting up the genset, this is not a problem for my skillset.
I have 3 tons of pellets for my stove downstairs, that’s about two years worth. After that, I can either modify it for real wood, or build a pellet maker if I can find a reliable source for sawdust (and wax). Supply Chain, don’cha know.
FWIW, most REAL economists have the accurate inflation data, just like Dad used to have before the ‘tards in DC decided to cook the numbers. The rate is somewhere around 17 -25% and going higher. This would freak out the Great Unwashed Masses, which is why it’s not reported properly any more. The more it bites people, the more they are going to squeal like a stuck pig. Perhaps they will get it through their two working brain cells that The (mis)Management in DC are a bunch of greedy and incompetent Fools. Perhaps. Don’t hold your breath.
My fixed income is starting to get hit hard, but I’ll get by. We all will.
“If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear.” Stay right with God and get the fodder in the shock NOW before the Grasshoppers strip everything bare. Make sure your stores of semi-precious metals are stocked up as well, because The Fourth Box may not be far away. Y’all know the drill.
I can’t see how your wife doesn’t see the price of everything going up!!!
For the first time in around thirty years the checking account went into the red. The money was there, it was just all in savings. I’ve been transferring more or less the same amount of money to savings for YEARS. My wife did a second grocery run one week and that’s all it took. A $200.00 shopping trip a year ago is now running $500.00! THANKS, TRAITOR JOE!!!
Oh; and I can see the moving around of seasonal stuff to make room for the next big thing, but when the automotive battery rack is over half empty, something’s up…
Yep, used to pay about $41 for the large bag of dog food a few months ago. Wife was buying in the mean time till I went last week. $58 fuck me.
I read a story that in the UK many pets are being abandoned because of the cost.